Dutch Fork wallops Summerville

Summerville gave Dutch Fork its toughest test during the Silver Foxes’ undefeated season, so it made sense to believe the Class 5A second round playoff game would be tightly contested.

Reese Nichols and Dutch Fork had other plans as they rolled to a 41-7 victory over the Green Wave behind 538 yards of offense Friday night at home.

Dutch Fork will host region foe White Knoll next Friday night.

“We seem to do things the hard way which surprises me because I’m pretty hard on them,” Dutch Fork coach Tom Knotts said. “But we got things going and played pretty well with the exceptions of penalties and a few missed reads. We’re still undefeated and playing.”

After a disastrous opening series, Dutch Fork scored on three straight possessions. Nichols capped a 10-play, 58-yard drive with a 24-yard touchdown run around the left end.

After Summerville (6-6) took a 7-6 lead on a 15-yard reception from Cameron Burnette, Nichols struck again. He scored on a 5-yard run to cap a six-play, 78-yard drive.

After a punt, Nichols found Bobby Irby on a 65-yard scoring strike to make it 20-7.

“We didn’t start the way we wanted and struggled at times but got a little lead and was able to run the ball in the second half and take control of the game,” Knotts said.

The Green Wave had a chance to get back into the contest on the opening possession of the second half but a fumble inside the Silver Foxes 20-yard line halted that drive. Six plays later, Nichols scored his final touchdown of the night on a 17-yard scamper.

Dutch Fork (12-0) limited Summerville to 235 yards and was able to play a lot of players in the fourth quarter.

TURNING POINT

Dutch Fork forced a punt that was downed at the Silver Foxes’ 35-yards line. On the next play, two Summerville defensive backs bit on a fake and Bobby Irby broke free wide open. Nichols hit him for the 65-yard TD to make it a two-possession game before the half.

KEY PERFORMERS

Nichols: The senior QB accounted for 298 yards of offense. He rushed for three scores (24, 5 and 17) and threw for another.

Bobby Irby: The senior wide receiver finished with 5 catches for 150 yards and one touchdown.

KEY NUMBERS

10: The one fall back for the Dutch Fork effort was 10 penalties for 92 yards. Several of them negated big gains.

258: Dutch Fork nearly had a 50-50 balance with the run and pass. Ron Hoff finished with 136 yards of the 258 rushing yards gained. Dutch Fork added 270 yards passing.

THEY SAID IT

“The receivers were telling me what was open and I was just going with it. We got slants to go and made them pay on couple of throws in the first half.” – Knotts

“We’ve got a great scheme. We kept the running back from getting many yards but we lost contain a few times on the quarterback but overall we played well defensively.” – Knotts

“We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities tonight. Their big plays hurt us and we didn’t respond when we had too.” – Joe Call

HOW THEY SCORED